An ideologically driven petition

June 6 2002

The petition circulating in Australian universities calling for a ban on cultural and academic ties with Israel is selective and insincere. Signed by more than 90 academics, the petition urges academics to boycott Israeli conferences, research and cultural links because of the "Israeli crimes of war perpetrated daily and systematically" against the Palestinian people. The petition contains not the slightest attempt at even-handedness. In the simplistic mindset of its authors the Israelis are murderous oppressors and the Palestinians are blameless victims. No mention is made of the right of the Israeli Government to try to protect its people from the regular attacks by suicide bombers - the latest of which yesterday claimed the lives of at least 17 people, including women and children. No mention is made of the fact that this long and tragic conflict entails the conflicting rights of two groups of people, or that there are moderates and extremists on both sides, or even of Israel's right to exist.

Instead, an analogy is drawn between Israel and apartheid South Africa. This is not only inaccurate - Israel is a parliamentary democracy in which Arab Israelis can and do vote and hold seats in parliament - but is as offensive as it is no doubt intended to be, given that Israel was established to give Jews a haven from the racist persecution they had suffered for centuries. There are many states in the world, including some of Israel's neighbours, that routinely commit worse atrocities against their own people than any of the crimes alleged against Israel. There is no petition calling for a boycott of academics from these countries. Those who hold Israel to a higher standard of human rights than the Arab states surrounding it might reflect on whether this is anti-Arab racism.

Criticism of the government of Israel does not amount to anti-Semitism or even anti-Zionism. This newspaper has repeatedly criticised the hard-line and expansionary policies of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and called for the withdrawal of Israeli settlements from Palestinian territories and the creation of a viable Palestinian state. Paradoxically, many of the Israeli academics this petition would ban are among the most trenchant critics of the current Israeli Government. The petition notes sorrowfully that the boycott will adversely affect some who do not deserve it. But even if the ban exempted those whose politics happen to be in accordance with the authors of the petition, it would still be an outrageous attempt to stifle freedom of speech, the expression of ideas and the sharing of academic research. The proposed ban has echoes of totalitarianism and book burning. We are entitled to expect better of those held to be the intellectual elites of our society.